Uninsured vs. Underinsured Motorist Coverage in West Virginia

By the FigureMyTax Editorial Team · How we calculate

West Virginia requires basic uninsured motorist coverage and makes higher UM and UIM an option. A vehicle is underinsured when its liability limits are less than your UIM limits. Fault above 50 percent bars recovery, and you generally have two years to sue.

Uninsured

W. Va. Code 33-6-31(c) defines an uninsured vehicle as one with no bodily injury and property damage liability insurance in the required amounts, one whose insurer denies coverage, or one with no certificate of self-insurance. A vehicle whose owner or operator is unknown is deemed uninsured.

Underinsured

A vehicle is underinsured when its liability limits are less than the limits you carried for underinsured coverage, or were reduced by payments to others hurt in the accident to less than those limits. UIM may not be reduced by payments under your policy or any other policy, which we read as paying your damages beyond the other driver's payment, up to your limit. We did not read the decisions on how the other driver's payment is treated.

Fault

Your fault does not bar recovery unless it is greater than the combined fault of all others responsible; otherwise your recovery is reduced in proportion (W. Va. Code 55-7-13c(c); see also 55-7-13a). West Virginia has no no-fault threshold for pain and suffering.

Deadlines

Personal injury actions must be brought within two years (W. Va. Code 55-2-12(b)).

Next steps

Stacking is a separate question; see our statute post and the explainer, then use the West Virginia UIM stacking calculator.

This is general information, not legal advice, and the state comparisons above are illustrative, not an exhaustive survey. Confirm how West Virginia's rules apply to your specific case with a licensed West Virginia attorney.